An Idea - P.S.

James,

Additionally in a video on stick fighting against multiple opponents it would be good to see a demonstration of stick retention techniques. Especially when assailants grab your stick from the side (as happened to the Swedish security guard) or from behind, both being executed while you are focused on an opponent in front of you.

Advice on targeting would be very useful. How and where to hit multiple assailants. Both to disable them and/or keep them off of you. To keep hem from swarming you and disarming you. Techniques on how to stick fight in the clinch and how break free from the clinch would be useful to know.

Finally it would be good to learn how to “pair” stick fight against multiple opponents when your partner is a female. Either she’s your partner on the job (again, as with the Swedish rentacops) or your wife or girl friend.

Guys frequently come to grief when they are attacked while in the company of a woman simply because they don’t have a prearranged plan. The plan the man will come up with on the spur of the moment will frequently consist of telling the woman to run way while he fights off the bad guys like Horatio at the bridge. Marc “Animal” MacYoung pointed out in one of his videos, that such a plan frequently does not work because the woman will just run off 50 feet and become suddenly overcome with guilt about leaving you to your fate. So she’ll invariably turn around and stand stock still while she watches in dismay as you get your ass beat into the ground by the dindu thugs. Once the thugs are done with you they will of course turn their attention to her, thus ensuring that your valiant sacrifice was all for nothing. So instead MacYoung recommends you take your squeeze by the hand and tell her to “RUN!”. Then the two of you run away as fast as you can. That makes more sense to me than anything else. That fact is if you have to worry about her getting hurt it’s going to distract you mightily.

If your significant other wants to contribute to your collective defense it would be best if you plan her role in advance.

An Idea - P.S. Again

James,

Don’t forget to evaluate some different sticks for their effectiveness, like straight batons, side-handle batons, wood sticks/batons, batons and sticks made of synthetic materials, collapsible batons, canes , various improvised impact weapons, and etc.

There, that ought to keep you busy.

Again, what do you think, James?

Yes, Jeremy, there is a real need for this. The Twerps, Goons and Meatshields book is a good adjunct for a coach or fighter who has done plenty of work, sparring and fighting with experienced stick-fighters. But such a thing is difficult for the novice to digest, not to mention write. Sean wants to build a video library on this stuff before I'm unable to do it. Also, I like the idea of putting it out there for free, just to piss off all the FMA people who charge an arm and a leg to train people with blades and sticks, to increasingly marginal effect. Since I no longer have access to a coaching facility in Baltimore, this is going to come about based on Sean's ability to stage the thing at his gym in PA.